Small and cautious interventions try not to destroy the special atmosphere and to retrieve hidden qualities in the refurbishment of a typical Berlin apartment from around 1900.

In three rooms several layers of old color were taken off the extensive moulding on the ceiling. Behind the thick layers of color parts of the original ceiling frescos appeared. Since the ceilings were not painted again, the rooms are being characterized by a lively and diverse feeling full of history. The slight irregularities of a rough lime cement plaster on the walls are equally far away from a too monotonous perfectly smooth surface. The old hardwood flooring was sanded off and treated with a mixture of oil and wax.

Founder Michel Abboud of SOMA attended the 2016 Architizer A+ Awards gala to accept the best retail award for SOMA’s Unilux Showroom. Winners were selected based on excellence in form, function and innovation.

The Architizer A+Awards is the world largest awards program that celebrates the year’s best architecture, appreciates meaningful architecture in the world, and champions it’s potential for a positive impact on everyday life. Winners are chosen by an illustrious jury including such industry luminaries as Denise Scott Brown, Bjarke Ingels and Tom Kundig, as well as personalities from beyond architecture like Tony Hsieh (CEO, Zappos), Yves Behar (Fuseproject), John Edelman (CEO, Design Within Reach), Cameron Sinclair (Architecture for Humanity) and Barry Bergdoll (MoMA).

The Windhover Contemplative Center was named a finalist in the 4th Annual Architizer A+Awards in the Cultural: Religious Buildings & Memorials category. This year’s awards, honoring the best architecture, spaces, and products from across the globe, received thousands of entries from more than 95 countries.

The Windhover Contemplative Center, designed by Aidlin Darling Design, is a spiritual retreat on the Stanford campus to promote and inspire personal renewal. Using Nathan Oliveira’s meditative Windhover paintings as a vehicle, the center provides a refuge from the intensity of daily life. It is intended for quiet reflection throughout the day for any Stanford student, faculty, or staff member, as well as for members of the larger community.

A nursery school of two-story building with rooftop terrace features 3-dimensional and circuit style structure located in Funabashi city. The concept of its design is to provide enough space for 160 children to play around in the nature and also for all their parents and nursery staff to feel safe.

India has a glorious history of temple architecture. The desert state of Rajasthan, where the temple is located, has an equally diverse and refined heritage of buildings set in an unforgiving climatic zone. Given this legacy, to design a contemporary Hindu temple set in the sand dunes of Rajasthan has been an enormous challenge.

A couple that had just moved to Lorca decided to build a house in the countryside as their permanent residence. We met them through another client with whom we did not have a good relationship, so the first meetings were not easy. They did not like our first schemes and we were not confident about accomplishing what they demanded. However, some of their requirements were appealing for us: a house with no doors (at least at first glance), a fluid space, visual continuity throughout the different interior spaces, and between them and the surroundings, and a covered patio from which they could see the stars.

‘This building does not resemble any recognisable shape because it is an evocation of the soul of wine between the river and the city.’

A strong architectural statement, La Cité du Vin stands out with its bold curves and shape. An iconic building, this golden frame hosts a Cité within the city, a living space with experiences to discover.

KNOF design (based in London and founded by New York designer Susan Knof) has completed its first major commission: the remodelling of a spectacular 360° penthouse in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia, uniting two separate apartments into a single 3,600 sq ft space. The new, one-storey penthouse features floor-to-ceiling glazing all the way round and offers its owners incredible panoramic views over the city and adjacent mountains with all the benefits of continuous natural light, from sunrise through to sunset.